Composer

The Knights joins forces with pianist-composer Aaron Diehl to present a program featuring an excerpt from Louise Farrenc's Symphony No. 3, excerpts from the GRAMMY-nominated album Zodiac Suite, and Beethoven's Symphony No. 6, "Pastoral." Join us for an afternoon of diverse and compelling musical expressions at Ravinia Festival.

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The Knights with Aaron Diehl at Ravinia Festival

Ravinia Festival

The Knights are excited to return to the iconic Naumburg Bandshell on Tuesday, June 25, 2024. No tickets are required to attend this celebratory outdoor performance with Naumburg Orchestral Concerts, and seating will be offered on a first come first serve basis. The concert will also be broadcast live on WQXR.

The Knights at Naumburg Orchestral Concerts

Central Park

We conclude the 23-24 season with a concert celebrating national voices at home and abroad with distinctly French, American, and Finnish music, examples of musical masters of their respective countries.

National Pride

University of Redlands

Join the Chicago Sinfonietta for an unforgettable season finale, REVERB, featuring a lineup of works that showcase the power and energy of classical music. 
The evening begins with Chin's Subito con Forza, a  dynamic work that sets the tone for an evening. Then, if you appreciate bold and dynamic orchestral music, you won't want to miss the triumphant Symphony No. 3 by Louise Farrenc, whose brilliance as a composer is finally receiving the recognition it deserves.

Reverb

Roosevelt University

North Central College

Hersh has put together a wonderfully exciting and energetic program for our April Classics concert. This program opens with Louise Farrenc’s lyrical and spirited Symphony No. 3. Then we will explore J. S. Bach’s “Little Fugue” in G minor with an arrangement by Music Director Hersh himself. We’ll close out the evening with Mendelssohn’s uplifting and energetic Violin Concerto in E minor featuring Tai Murray. This concerto remains among the world’s most prominent and highly regarded violin concertos in history.

Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto

Gallo Center for the Arts

Concert #4

Maltz Performing Arts Center

In March we present Louise Farrenc’s Symphony No. 3, a hidden gem with exuberant intensity. Mozart’s Requiem is long admired for its powerful expression of grief and consolation ever since it was performed soon after the composer’s untimely death. Today, it’s heard in film scores nearly as often as in the concert hall.

Requiem

Stefanie H. Weill Center for the Performing Arts

Featuring the Sheboygan Symphony Chorus and Lakeland University Choir.

SSO Presents Requiem

Weill Center for the Performing Arts

French Riviera

First Presbyterian Church of Berkeley

This strings-forward program is certain to bring out your inner romantic. Elgar’s Serenade for Strings is a beautiful and intimate work full of rich harmonies and delicate textures that create a sense of intimacy and warmth. Dvořák’s expressive, Slavic-inspired melodies that make the most of the violín’s lyricism and showcase the impeccable technique of celebrated guest violinist Sirena Huang will feel like a love letter to the violín. Iconoclast French composer Louise Farrenc’s Symphony No. 3 in G in minor, considered almost heretical for its time, brings the program full circle.

Serenade for Romance

Granada Theatre

Despite the piece’s name, Milhaud’s Le boeuf is not about a cow on a roof – it’s the music written for Jean Cocteau’s farcical pantomime about a non-existent speakeasy in America during Prohibition, performed for the first time in Paris in 1919. Milhaud’s score is kaleidoscopic in color, with multiple keys and tonalities jostling with each other for supremacy – and it’s just plain fun, featuring incredibly virtuosic passages for the entire orchestra, all the way through. Winona Fifield, SoNA’s esteemed concertmaster will perform Max Bruch’s beloved and romantic Violin Concerto in G Minor, a piece that was a hit success despite being written early in Bruch’s career. To close out this program, we feature what is potentially the greatest piece of music you’ve never heard: Louise Farrenc’s Symphony No. 3. This work — and the rest of Farrenc’s output — was lost to us until recently due to the music world often ignoring and dismissing female composers, but now its time has come! We are thrilled to be able to bring this outstanding and passionate music to you, some 177 years after she wrote it in 1847. Each of these pieces defy expectations in their own way – from Milhaud’s eclectic and wonderfully unpredictable style, to Bruch’s early success, to Farrenc’s bold persistence and assurance in her powerful voice despite many barriers to success. Great music pushes beyond barriers and expectations!

Defying Expectations

Walton Arts Center

Winner of the 2021 International Chopin Competition, Bruce Liu makes his NY Phil debut performing Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, a sparkling showcase for the piano soloist. Santtu-Matias Rouvali conducts Dvořák’s stormy, powerful Seventh Symphony and Farrenc’s toe-tapping Second Overture.

Bruce Liu, Rachmaninoff, and Dvořák

Lincoln Center

Composed during a period of emotional upheaval, Schumann’s Second Symphony traces a defiantly joyous journey toward radiant hope. And pianist Tamara Stefanovich dazzles in Hans Abrahamsen’s transfixing Left, Alone, a work of fire and ice in which the soloist relies on the virtuosity of their left hand.

Musical Fortitude: Schumann's Second Symphony

Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall

This Express Concert features SPCO violinist Maureen Nelson as the soloist in Ernest Chausson’s beloved Poème. One moment brooding and mysterious, the next brilliant and sweeping, this work was inspired by “The Song of Triumphant Love,” a short story by the Russian novelist, Ivan Turgenev, about two young men who fall in love with the same woman — a perfect recipe for drama! This version has been arranged for the orchestra by SPCO Principal Horn James Ferree. When Pekka Kuusisto led Louis Farrenc’s Third Symphony a few years ago, the orchestra fell in love with it and has been eager to tackle this bold and exciting masterwork in its signature unconducted fashion.

Express Concert: Farrenc’s Third Symphony

Wooddale Church

Shepherd of The Valley Lutheran Church

Music Director Jader Bignamini begins the 2023–­2024 Season with the first overture by Louise Farrenc, a pioneering French Romantic composer. Gil Shaham, whose "mastery has only grown more profound," (The San Francisco Chronicle) dives into the majesties of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto. Two mesmerizing dances by Maurice Ravel spiral in very different directions.

Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto

Orchestra Hall

The “musician as hero” was invented by Beethoven when he chose to triumph over deafness and fulfill his artistic destiny. Beginning in 1803, a decade of masterpieces cemented his reputation not only as the world’s most famous musician, but also as an artist who was unequivocally his own muse. His triumphs over adversity opened the doors of musical imagination to composers everywhere, from the young, awestruck Schubert to the visionary women composer-performers Louise Farrenc and Clara Schumann.

Concert Program III: From The Heart

Menlo School Campus

Festival Day 4

Tucson Convention Center

March 2023 Concert

Church of St. Paul and St. Andrew

Farrenc’s bold and energetic Symphony No. 3 evokes the brilliance of Beethoven and Schumann. Beethoven’s iconic and distinctive 7th symphony was composed during one of the most challenging times of his life.

Hidden Treasures

Alaska Center for the Performing Arts

SPCO violinist Eunae Koh curates a program of composers from the Romantic era to the present day inspired by emotional and natural landscapes. Clara Schumann’s Three Romances and Louise Farrenc’s Sextet showcase the virtuosic talent of both composers who were celebrated pianists and influential advocates for their contemporaries. An evocative work for oboe, viola and cello by living composer Hilary Tann is inspired by a ruined castle in Wales. The program ends with a jubilant, but rarely performed, string quartet by Swedish composer Valborg Aulin.

Romantic Landscapes with Eunae Koh

Capri Theater

Trinity Lutheran Church of Minnesota

Saint Paul's United Church of Christ

At a time when women weren’t typically considered composer material, Louise Farrenc and Cécile Chaminade triumphed against all odds. Farrenc’s Symphony recalls Brahms or Mendelssohn with a French touch, while Chaminade’s Concertino and Poulenc’s Sonata highlight the versatile flute playing of soloist in residence Emmanuel Pahud, one of the greatest virtuosos playing today. A young Debussy pays homage to the great French composers of his time.

Pahud’s French Melodies

Église catholique Notre-Dame-des-Sept-Douleurs

Place des Arts

St. Joachim of Pointe-Claire Church

2023.24 Sandbox Composer-in-Residence Clarice Assad's Synchronous is a two-movement work composed for oboe and string quartet depicting the same five minutes of time, first as a beautiful sunrise, and second as disconnected images of events happening around the world during those same five minutes. 

Assad, Farrenc and Schubert

Ordway Center for the Performing Arts

Wayzata Community Church

This concert features three women composers. Valerie Coleman's work was inspired by her travels to a European jazz nightclub. Louise Farrenc, a piano prodigy, wrote this virtuosic piano quintet for the same instrumentation as the Schubert Trout Quintet, adding a double bass into the mix. Gwyneth Walker's Three Songs reflect the lyrical and romantic aspects of E. E. Cummings's writing. The program ends with the stunning and hauntingly beautiful last work of Strauss about the end of days. Cliff Colnot created this new arrangement especially for this world premiere ICA performance. 

Three Ladies & A Strauss

Church of the Holy Spirit

The Festival artists lead an exciting evening of chamber music at the Harold Miossi Cultural & Performing Arts Center, including the West Coast Premiere of George Tsontakis' Portraits by El Greco Book II.

Chamber Music at Cuesta

Harold J. Miossi Cultural and Performing Arts Center

Concluding our season crescendo is Beethoven’s monumental Ninth Symphony, a work showcasing the power, heroism, humanity, and revolutionary spirit of his groundbreaking and visionary voice.  In addition to our four phenomenal soloists, we will have more than 100 voices from the combined choruses of Shasta College and Simpson University.  The performance begins with the dramatic and fiery Overture No. 2 by Louise Farrenc and also features a world premiere by the winner of the North State Symphony Composition Competition.

Masterworks 4: Unstoppable Beethoven

California State University, Chico

Cascade Theatre

Since forming in 2010, Neave Trio – violinist Anna Williams, cellist Mikhail Veselov, and pianist Eri Nakamura – has earned enormous praise for its engaging, cutting­edge performances. WQXR explains, “‘Neave’ is actually a Gaelic name meaning ‘bright’ and ‘radiant,’ both of which certainly apply to this trio's music making.” The group’s 2019 album Her Voice, on Chandos Records, was named one of the best recordings of the year by both The New York Times and BBC Radio 3. The Boston Musical Intelligencer reports, “it is inconceivable that they will not soon be among the busiest chamber ensembles going,” and “their unanimity, communication, variety of touch, and expressive sensibility rate first tier.”

Neave Trio

Ridgecrest Presbyterian Church

Celebrating Our Artists conducted by Maestro Andrew Sewell highlights SLO Symphony musicians as soloists, including Concertmaster Emily Lanzone, Principal Second Violin Timothy Shanks, Principal Oboe and English Horn Jessica Hoffman, Oboe Heidi Butterfield Yi, and Flute Carol Houchens. The program also includes SLO Youth Symphony Concert Strings performing side-by-side with their SLO Symphony counterparts. This concert of celebration for all to enjoy is generously sponsored by Jeff and Melodee Brady. Programs are subject to change.

CELEBRATING OUR ARTISTS

Performing Arts Center San Luis Obispo

Join us for the premiere of Jonah Sirota’s Quartet for flute, oboe, viola, and piano! This concert is supported in part by the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture.

World Premiere: Sirota Quartet

Chamber Music Palisades

Symphony Orchestra of Galicia - Joan Ibáñez - Markus Stenz

Opera Palace of A Coruña

Sede Afundación Pontevedra Auditorium

This program of all French music will encapsulate and translate the beauty and grace of the french impressionist painters to a sonic landscape depicted by the orchestra and choir.  

Louise Farrenc’s Overture No. 2 followed by Claude Debussy’s La mer, meaning The Sea. Preferring painted seascapes, The Great Wave off Kanagawa by Katsushika Hokusai is featured on the Debussy first edition. Following intermission, LexPhil and Music Director Mélisse Brunet are excited to collaborate with The Lexington Singers for Francis Poulenc’s Gloria. With a section inspired by monks playing a mundane match of soccer, the work will feature the full choir and guest soprano Jessica Bayne.

French Impressions

University of Kentucky

Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique has long been a favourite since its premiere in 1830. It was first performed at the Paris Conservatoire, where Louise Farrenc was enrolled in the previously all-male composition class, at the age of just 15. Her powerful and vivacious Overture in E flat, written a few years after the Berlioz, opens this programme.

Louise Farrenc

Composer

Events

Upcoming events

Jan 15, 2025

World Premiere: Sirota Quartet · Chamber Music Palisades

16 - 17 Jan, 2025

Symphony Orchestra of Galicia - Joan Ibáñez - Markus Stenz · Orquesta Sinfonica de Galicia

Mar 1, 2025

French Impressions · Lexington Philharmonic

15 - 18 May, 2025

Symphonie fantastique · The Hallé

Past events

Jun 29, 2024

The Knights with Aaron Diehl at Ravinia Festival · The Knights

Jun 25, 2024

The Knights at Naumburg Orchestral Concerts · The Knights

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